Tbilisi, Georgia

Georgia still Perfumed by the Rose Revolution


earthworms
The VERY controversial buildings of the Music Theater and Exhibition Hall, in the middle of the Mtkvari (Kura) river valley, which runs through the middle of the city.
Faith Maneuvers
Against the whims of the wind, workers try to put up an Orthodox religious poster next to the Church of the Assumption in Metekhi.
For that Mtkvari above
Metekhi Church of the Assumption, perched on the high bank of the Mtkvari (Kura) river.
Faith, etc.
Believers light candles in the gilded interior of Metekhi Church of the Assumption.
Tbilisi Colors
Panoramic view of Tbilisi golden in autumn and with the river Mtkvari dividing it.
A Golden Freedom
The statue of São Jorge in the heart of Praça da Liberdade.
DIY in the heights
Two men repair the roof of a historic building near Tbilisi's sulfur baths.
simple figures
Visitors walk on top of Narikala Fortress, atop the slope of Sololoaki.
Vakhtang Gorgasali I
The statue of the founder of Tbilisi Vakhtang Gorgasali, prominent between the church of Metekhi and almost over the river Mtkvari.
Reverse direction
Child watches outsiders during a mass at Metekhi Church of the Assumption.
to the last light
Traffic travels up an elegant block in the Georgian capital.
Free time
Men play backgammon by the sulfur baths of Tbilisi.
Old Fashioned Houses
Historic terraced houses on the edge of the steep bank of the Mtkvari (Kura) river.
Santos & co.
Orthodox paintings adorning the interior of the church of the Assumption of Metekhi.
an undulating peace
The Bridge of Peace is also controversial over the Mtkvari, a work inaugurated in 2010, against intense contestation.
nose
The fortress of Narikala golden by the setting sun.
The Faith, etc. II
Faithful prays isolated in a corner of the church of the Assumption of Metekhi.
USSR (Soviet Urbanization in the Soviet Republics)
Large Soviet housing building detached above the city's historic houses.
Vakhtang Gorgasali 2
The statue of the founder of Tbilisi on a mystical night in the city.
In 2003, a popular political uprising made the sphere of power in Georgia tilt from East to West. Since then, the capital Tbilisi has not renounced its centuries of Soviet history, nor the revolutionary assumption of integrating into Europe. When we visit, we are dazzled by the fascinating mix of their past lives.

The weekend approaches and the religious authorities of the capital and Georgia prepare the area around the Church of the Assumption of Metekhi for the Orthodox celebrations at the end of the following day.

That morning, like a meteorological miracle, the gray and rainy atmosphere in which we had arrived had given way to an opposite one, limpid, with a blue and sunny sky to match.

The wind had increased since dawn. It annoyed city officials who struggled with huge iconographic posters intended for affixation atop the high wall next to the statue of the founding king of Tbilisi, Vakhtang Gorgasali.

Poster placement religios, Tbilisi, Georgia

Against the whims of the wind, workers try to put up an Orthodox religious poster next to the Church of the Assumption in Metekhi.

The posters avoided the final destination as if it were an encounter with the Devil. Only with astuteness and mechanical persistence, the men managed to dominate them, even so, before the end of the mass taking place in the mystic interior of the temple.

A voluminous priest in a black cassock and a long white beard draped over two huge hanging crucifixes leaves him just as we prepare to enter. Even in a hurry, he examines us from top to bottom and confirms that we would hardly be part of his flock.

A Mass in Good Orthodox Fashion

Inside, the dozens of candles that the faithful lit, accentuated a sacred gold. They generated the welcoming atmosphere in which they grew up praying, with the Bible or notebooks in their hands, or with a hopeful look at the images of Christ and the saints.

Believers in Metekhi Church of the Assumption, Tbilisi, Georgia

Believers light candles in the gilded interior of Metekhi Church of the Assumption.

The priest on duty resurfaces from the depths of the nave. He gathers the flock in front of him and resumes the religious service where he left it. One of your believers holds a child in her arms with her back to the altar. Intrigued by our photographic hustle, the baby stares at us for minutes on end, never complaining about the inverted conversion in which her mother kept her.

The scene we were looking at was part of Tbilisi as usual, but both the South Caucasus country and its secular capital have undergone recent sudden changes.

From the Soviet Legacy of Josef Stalin to the Rose Revolution

From 1921 to 1991, Georgia was part of the Soviet sphere. The most notorious and Machiavellian of Soviet leaders, Josef Stalin, had been a Georgian from Gori, originally named Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. Eduard Shevardnadze, another Georgian, held the position of Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991.

He was responsible for many of the important decisions of the presidency perestroikika by Mikhail Gorbachev. Unsurprisingly, four years after Georgian independence in December 1991, Shevardnadze won Georgia's second presidency. Another eight years passed.

The Georgian population grew fed up with what their nation was becoming, a virtually failed state. In November 2003, the Georgian people were completely saturated. He took to the streets in successive demonstrations gathered in front of the Tbilisi parliament.

Visitors walk on top of Narikala fortress, Tbilisi, Georgia

Visitors walk on top of Narikala Fortress, atop the slope of Sololoaki.

At one point, a group of protesters led by revolution leader Mikheil Saakashvili peacefully invaded parliament. Armed with roses, the speakers interrupted a speech by Eduard Shevardnadze.

The latter fled with his security guards, declared a State of Emergency and tried, in vain, to mobilize the armed forces and the police. He ended up announcing his resignation. Afterwards, a crowd of over XNUMX people celebrated the revolutionary success with fireworks and rock concerts.

In 2004, widespread support from USA, from several European countries and the self-proclaimed philanthropist tycoon George Soros and his Open Society Foundation, secured the election of Saakashvili as Georgia's third president.

A Prodigious Recovery with its Back to the Russia

Saakashvili immediately implemented policies of secession with the Russian sphere and of approximation to Western Europe. Despite several setbacks, spurred on by a strong expansion of the banking sector, the country's economy recovered and came into line, while the plague of corruption was mitigated.

The statue of the founder of Tbilisi Vakhtang Gorgasali, Tbilisi, Georgia

The statue of the founder of Tbilisi Vakhtang Gorgasali, prominent between the Metekhi church and almost over the Mtkvari river.

In the World Bank ranking, Georgia rose from 122nd country to 18th. For a long period, foreign investment remained at around three billion dollars and the country's annual growth was 9.5%.

This sudden escalation of prosperity did not make Georgians rich overnight, but it did generate long-awaited relief considering that, before the revolution, the official salary of a Georgian minister was $75.

The social openness and entrepreneurship thus generated continue to flourish in the old and elegant streets of Tbilisi. Soviet buildings maintain their place.

USSR Architectural Legacy vs New Controversial Buildings

We stayed in a hotel just above the parliament, so when we descend towards the centre, the successive columns of the massive building are the first architectural element of that era that assails us.

Many more are emerging, notably those at the current headquarters of the Bank of Georgia, once the Georgian Ministry of Highway Construction, completed in 1975, with a look of eccentric legos work.

The Soviet “monos” are, however, challenged by others more daring than many of the city's inhabitants wanted. This is the case of the new Music Theater and Exhibition Hall, in Rhike Park, a pair of tubular structures designed by the Italian couple Maximiano and Doriana Fuksas.

Music Theater and Exhibition Hall, Tbilisi, Georgia

The VERY controversial buildings of the Music Theater and Exhibition Hall, in the middle of the Mtkvari (Kura) river valley, which runs through the middle of the city.

Vladimir, the Armenian driver who at times seemed quite nostalgic for Soviet times, informs us that they called him “the worms” and that construction had been suspended.

For a long time after we discovered them, passersby continued to pass by, a little suspicious of the intentions of the “mouths” of “Aliens” in which the huge and invasive buildings ended.

The Bridge of Peace over the river mtkvari. The Possible Peace.

The Mtkvari River flows just ahead, along a valley that has carved out century after century. It is crossed by a bridge no less controversial. Despite its name, and like the Music Theater and Exhibition Hall, the Bridge of Peace has raised a wave of criticism from many quarters.

Bridge of Peace, Tbilisi, Georgia

The Bridge of Peace is also controversial over the Mtkvari, a work inaugurated in 2010, against intense contestation.

It generated accusations, in particular, of being too exuberant for the city's historic district and of obscuring its historic attractions. Nevertheless, friends and young couples, whether foreigners or city people, walk through it, delighted with the lighting that comes on as they pass and with the curvilinear shapes that they use to compose new ones. selfies.

The historic heart of Tbilisi rises from the other side of those who come from the “worm-occupied” bank of the Music Theater and Exhibition Hall. It stretches between the opposite bank and the steep slope of Sololoaki on which the fortress of Narikala stands.

The Ancient Core of Tbilisi. On either side of Mtkvari.

Its streets and alleys were shaped in times when they were home to a crossroads of Eurasian trade routes. They are bordered by medieval, classic, Art Nouveau buildings, even in this ancient area, also by some Stalinists and Modernists.

Narikala Fortress, Tbilisi, Georgia

The fortress of Narikala golden by the setting sun.

We took a cable car up to the heights of the fortress above. We leave the cabin at the foot of the silver statue Kartlis Deda, the Mother of Georgia from Soviet times, which overlooks the great city of the nation. From there, we admire the old, colorful and harmonious houses, “the worms” and the Ponte da Paz.

Also the church of Metekhi and the succession of historic terraced mansions perched on top of the high, steep bank of the river. And, a few meters behind, the facade of a hyperbolic Soviet building, unfolded in countless blue and white windows.

Tbilisi, Georgia Houses

Large Soviet housing building detached above the city's historic houses.

In the Old Town, bars, cafes, wine and craft houses, inns and even nightclubs multiplied, some businesses more picturesque than others, all with the same mission: to win the attention of backpackers who spread the fame of Tbilisi, proclaimed without ceremonies, the most open and dynamic of the capitals of the Caucasus.

Tamara Giorgadze and the Highs and Lows of Georgian Independence

Still, much has changed again. The economy stopped growing at the levels of the years following the revolution. With the deceleration in the middle of the capitalist model, individualism and greed increased as well as unemployment and general instability in the lives of Georgians. Tamara Giorgadze was born in Tbilisi in 1985 and is our host in her town.

Tbilisi, Georgia Homes

Two men repair the roof of a historic building near Tbilisi's sulfur baths.

He explains to us that a certain nostalgia has gripped the generations of his parents and grandparents. “Look at the difference: my father is from a village in western Georgia, he came here to study. He got a house in Tbilisi, but as the regime only allowed one house per family, he and my mother got divorced so they could have one house each.

Older people enjoy life now and find them yearning for the Soviet Union. Most even continue to respect the Stalin. At that time, they had their money but could not spend it because there was nothing to buy.

When I was little, caramels came to us from time to time from Turkey. It was so rare that it almost felt like Christmas to us. My generation and I already see things differently. As long as there is money, we can buy everything but the average salary is still only 350 or 400€.

The Church of the Assumption of Metekhi, Tbilisi, Georgia

Metekhi Church of the Assumption, perched on the high bank of the Mtkvari (Kura) river.

You can see what we need to evolve... Anyway, in Georgia, nothing will ever be easy, let alone guaranteed. We are a small country but we are in a strategic place that has plenty. Everyone wants to control us.”

The Baths and Georgian Wine. Two Valuable Attributes of Tbilisi.

We descended from the fortress that so often ensured Tbilisi's resistance to its foothills. We detected a more obvious Muslim influence in the Jumah mosque, from which its lush brick minaret stood out.

At the base, a cluster of men accompanies two others who face off in a game of backgammon played on a wall of the city's historic thermal baths, where both residents and travellers-traders have become accustomed to relaxing.

Backgammon Game, Tbilisi, Georgia

Men play backgammon by the sulfur baths of Tbilisi.

The sulfur and the orbeliani remain, the latter closer to the foot of the slope that housed the fortress and to the waterfall of sulfur Dzveli that flows from it. An additional building brings together the public baths. In the old-fashioned way, it forces patrons to separate according to gender.

It is already rare in Tbilisi where, in an increasingly less regimented way, lovers show their passion without great moral restrictions, inspired by the most avid wine stimuli in the Caucasus. Georgia takes seriously its claim that it is the world's cradle of wine production.

In line with this, cellars and wine houses that sell and offer the best nectars in the country have spread throughout Tbilisi. But if wine is the product of choice on the streets of Metekhi, others are displayed with equal zeal and pride. The fruit in general, the grapes in particular, when in season.

Throughout the year, the colored churcchela, a curious derivative of both. When we first saw them, we thought they were church candles. Until Tamara enlightened us and we made a point of trying them out.

A kind of fluted sausage, the shape of that famous Georgian sweet is made with a mixture of grape juice and flour. It involves a delicious nut filling.

A Mystical Procession of the Old Orthodox Faith

we buy some churkhalas already about dusk. We continue along Betlemi Street, again pointing to the area of ​​the church of Metekhi and the huge Plaza de Europa that, on the other side of the river, announces it.

As we approached, the religious procession that we had seen being prepared was in full swing and cluttered the stone bridge. The protagonists were believers in picturesque Orthodox costumes who, by candlelight, sang liturgical litanies.

As much as Georgia and Tbilisi changed (for better or for worse), a good part of Georgians will always be able to find the comfort of its ancient tradition and religiosity.

Statue of Vakhtang Gorgasali, Tbilisi, Georgia

The statue of the founder of Tbilisi on a mystical night in the Georgian capital.

Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Kazbegi, Georgia

God in the Caucasus Heights

In the 4000th century, Orthodox religious took their inspiration from a hermitage that a monk had erected at an altitude of 5047 m and perched a church between the summit of Mount Kazbek (XNUMXm) and the village at the foot. More and more visitors flock to these mystical stops on the edge of Russia. Like them, to get there, we submit to the whims of the reckless Georgia Military Road.
Alaverdi, Armenia

A Cable Car Called Ensejo

The top of the Debed River Gorge hides the Armenian monasteries of Sanahin and Haghpat and terraced Soviet apartment blocks. Its bottom houses the copper mine and smelter that sustains the city. Connecting these two worlds is a providential suspended cabin in which the people of Alaverdi count on traveling in the company of God.
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Armenia

The Cradle of the Official Christianity

Just 268 years after Jesus' death, a nation will have become the first to accept the Christian faith by royal decree. This nation still preserves its own Apostolic Church and some of the oldest Christian temples in the world. Traveling through the Caucasus, we visit them in the footsteps of Gregory the Illuminator, the patriarch who inspires Armenia's spiritual life.
Upplistsikhe e Gori, Georgia

From the Cradle of Georgia to Stalin's Childhood

In the discovery of the Caucasus, we explore Uplistsikhe, a troglodyte city that preceded Georgia. And just 10km away, in Gori, we find the place of the troubled childhood of Joseb Jughashvili, who would become the most famous and tyrant of Soviet leaders.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan

The Astronomer Sultan

The grandson of one of the great conquerors of Central Asia, Ulugh Beg, preferred the sciences. In 1428, he built a space observatory in Samarkand. His studies of the stars led him to name a crater on the Moon.
Margilan, Uzbekistan

An Uzbekistan's Breadwinner

In one of the many bakeries in Margilan, worn out by the intense heat of the tandyr oven, the baker Maruf'Jon works half-baked like the distinctive traditional breads sold throughout Uzbekistan
Khiva, Uzbequistan

The Silk Road Fortress the Soviets Velved

In the 80s, Soviet leaders renewed Khiva in a softened version that, in 1990, UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site. The USSR disintegrated the following year. Khiva has preserved its new luster.
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, The Nation That Does Not Lack Bread

Few countries employ cereals like Uzbekistan. In this republic of Central Asia, bread plays a vital and social role. The Uzbeks produce it and consume it with devotion and in abundance.
Samarkand, Uzbequistan

A Monumental Legacy of the Silk Road

In Samarkand, cotton is the most traded commodity and Ladas and Chevrolets have replaced camels. Today, instead of caravans, Marco Polo would find Uzbekistan's worst drivers.
Aral Sea, Uzbequistan

The Lake that Cotton Absorbed

In 1960, the Aral Sea was one of the four largest lakes in the world. Irrigation projects dried up much of the water and fishermen's livelihoods. In return, the USSR flooded Uzbekistan with vegetable white gold.
Rhinoceros, PN Kaziranga, Assam, India
Safari
PN Kaziranga, India

The Indian Monoceros Stronghold

Situated in the state of Assam, south of the great Brahmaputra river, PN Kaziranga occupies a vast area of ​​alluvial swamp. Two-thirds of the rhinocerus unicornis around the world, there are around 100 tigers, 1200 elephants and many other animals. Pressured by human proximity and the inevitable poaching, this precious park has not been able to protect itself from the hyperbolic floods of the monsoons and from some controversies.
Yak Kharka to Thorong Phedi, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, Yaks
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit 11th: yak karkha a Thorong Phedi, Nepal

Arrival to the Foot of the Canyon

In just over 6km, we climbed from 4018m to 4450m, at the base of Thorong La canyon. Along the way, we questioned if what we felt were the first problems of Altitude Evil. It was never more than a false alarm.
Bertie in jalopy, Napier, New Zealand
Architecture & Design
Napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s

Devastated by an earthquake, Napier was rebuilt in an almost ground-floor Art Deco and lives pretending to stop in the Thirties. Its visitors surrender to the Great Gatsby atmosphere that the city enacts.
Passengers, scenic flights-Southern Alps, New Zealand
Adventure
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.
portfolio, Got2Globe, Travel photography, images, best photographs, travel photos, world, Earth
Ceremonies and Festivities
Cape Coast, Ghana

The Divine Purification Festival

The story goes that, once, a plague devastated the population of Cape Coast of today Ghana. Only the prayers of the survivors and the cleansing of evil carried out by the gods will have put an end to the scourge. Since then, the natives have returned the blessing of the 77 deities of the traditional Oguaa region with the frenzied Fetu Afahye festival.
City of Mindelo, São Vicente, Cape Verde
Cities
Mindelo, São Vicente, Cape Verde

The Miracle of São Vicente

São Vicente has always been arid and inhospitable to match. The challenging colonization of the island subjected the settlers to successive hardships. Until, finally, its providential deep-water bay enabled Mindelo, the most cosmopolitan city and the cultural capital of Cape Verde.
Beverage Machines, Japan
Meal
Japan

The Beverage Machines Empire

There are more than 5 million ultra-tech light boxes spread across the country and many more exuberant cans and bottles of appealing drinks. The Japanese have long since stopped resisting them.
Culture
Cemeteries

the last address

From the grandiose tombs of Novodevichy, in Moscow, to the boxed Mayan bones of Pomuch, in the Mexican province of Campeche, each people flaunts its own way of life. Even in death.
combat arbiter, cockfighting, philippines
Sport
Philippines

When Only Cock Fights Wake Up the Philippines

Banned in much of the First World, cockfighting thrives in the Philippines where they move millions of people and pesos. Despite its eternal problems, it is the sabong that most stimulates the nation.
Traveling
Inle Lake, Myanmar

A Pleasant Forced Stop

In the second of the holes that we have during a tour around Lake Inlé, we hope that they will bring us the bicycle with the patched tyre. At the roadside shop that welcomes and helps us, everyday life doesn't stop.
Christmas scene, Shillong, Meghalaya, India
Ethnic
Shillong, India

A Christmas Selfiestan at an India Christian Stronghold

December arrives. With a largely Christian population, the state of Meghalaya synchronizes its Nativity with that of the West and clashes with the overcrowded Hindu and Muslim subcontinent. Shillong, the capital, shines with faith, happiness, jingle bells and bright lighting. To dazzle Indian holidaymakers from other parts and creeds.
View of Fa Island, Tonga, Last Polynesian Monarchy
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

Exotic Signs of Life

Roça Bombaim, Roça Monte Café, São Tomé island, flag
History
Center São Tomé, São Tomé and Principe

From Roça to Roça, Towards the Tropical Heart of São Tomé

On the way between Trindade and Santa Clara, we come across the terrifying colonial past of Batepá. Passing through the Bombaim and Monte Café roças, the island's history seems to have been diluted in time and in the chlorophyll atmosphere of the Santomean jungle.
Viti Levu, Fiji Islands, South Pacific, coral reef
Islands
Viti levu, Fiji

Islands on the edge of Islands

A substantial part of Fiji preserves the agricultural expansions of the British colonial era. In the north and off the large island of Viti Levu, we also came across plantations that have only been named for a long time.
Horses under a snow, Iceland Never Ending Snow Island Fire
Winter White
Husavik a Myvatn, Iceland

Endless Snow on the Island of Fire

When, in mid-May, Iceland already enjoys some sun warmth but the cold and snow persist, the inhabitants give in to an intriguing summer anxiety.
Cove, Big Sur, California, United States
Literature
Big Sur, USA

The Coast of All Refuges

Over 150km, the Californian coast is subjected to a vastness of mountains, ocean and fog. In this epic setting, hundreds of tormented souls follow in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac and Henri Miller.
Las Cuevas, Mendoza, across the Andes, Argentina
Nature
Mendoza, Argentina

From One Side to the Other of the Andes

Departing from Mendoza city, the N7 route gets lost in vineyards, rises to the foot of Mount Aconcagua and crosses the Andes to Chile. Few cross-border stretches reveal the magnificence of this forced ascent
Lion, Elephants, PN Hwange, Zimbabwe
Natural Parks
PN Hwange, Zimbabwe

The Legacy of the Late Cecil Lion

On July 1, 2015, Walter Palmer, a dentist and trophy hunter from Minnesota killed Cecil, Zimbabwe's most famous lion. The slaughter generated a viral wave of outrage. As we saw in PN Hwange, nearly two years later, Cecil's descendants thrive.
Saida Ksar Ouled Soltane, festival of the ksour, tataouine, tunisia
UNESCO World Heritage
Tataouine, Tunisia

Festival of the Ksour: Sand Castles That Don't Collapse

The ksour were built as fortifications by the Berbers of North Africa. They resisted Arab invasions and centuries of erosion. Every year, the Festival of the Ksour pays them the due homage.
Heroes Acre Monument, Zimbabwe
Characters
Harare, Zimbabwewe

The Last Rales of Surreal Mugabué

In 2015, Zimbabwe's first lady Grace Mugabe said the 91-year-old president would rule until the age of 100 in a special wheelchair. Shortly thereafter, it began to insinuate itself into his succession. But in recent days, the generals have finally precipitated the removal of Robert Mugabe, who has replaced him with former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Surf Lesson, Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii
Beaches
Waikiki, OahuHawaii

The Japanese Invasion of Hawaii

Decades after the attack on Pearl Harbor and from the capitulation in World War II, the Japanese returned to Hawaii armed with millions of dollars. Waikiki, his favorite target, insists on surrendering.
Braga or Braka or Brakra in Nepal
Religion
Annapurna Circuit: 6th – Braga, Nepal

The Ancient Nepal of Braga

Four days of walking later, we slept at 3.519 meters from Braga (Braka). Upon arrival, only the name is familiar to us. Faced with the mystical charm of the town, arranged around one of the oldest and most revered Buddhist monasteries on the Annapurna circuit, we continued our journey there. acclimatization with ascent to Ice Lake (4620m).
Flam Railway composition below a waterfall, Norway.
On Rails
Nesbyen to Flam, Norway

Flam Railway: Sublime Norway from the First to the Last Station

By road and aboard the Flam Railway, on one of the steepest railway routes in the world, we reach Flam and the entrance to the Sognefjord, the largest, deepest and most revered of the Scandinavian fjords. From the starting point to the last station, this monumental Norway that we have unveiled is confirmed.
Parade and Pomp
Society
Saint Petersburg, Russia

When the Russian Navy Stations in Saint Petersburg

Russia dedicates the last Sunday of July to its naval forces. On that day, a crowd visits large boats moored on the Neva River as alcohol-drenched sailors seize the city.
Busy intersection of Tokyo, Japan
Daily life
Tokyo, Japan

The Endless Night of the Rising Sun Capital

Say that Tokyo do not sleep is an understatement. In one of the largest and most sophisticated cities on the face of the Earth, twilight marks only the renewal of the frenetic daily life. And there are millions of souls that either find no place in the sun, or make more sense in the “dark” and obscure turns that follow.
Jeep crosses Damaraland, Namibia
Wildlife
damaraland, Namíbia

Namibia On the Rocks

Hundreds of kilometers north of Swakopmund, many more of Sossuvlei's iconic dunes, Damaraland is home to deserts interspersed with red rocky hills, the young nation's highest mountain and ancient rock art. the settlers South Africans they named this region after the Damara, one of the Namibian ethnic groups. Only these and other inhabitants prove that it remains on Earth.
Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii Wrinkles
Scenic Flights
napali coast, Hawaii

Hawaii's Dazzling Wrinkles

Kauai is the greenest and rainiest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is also the oldest. As we explore its Napalo Coast by land, sea and air, we are amazed to see how the passage of millennia has only favored it.
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